Tuesday, June 12, 2007

MEMRI TV reported Ahmad Al-Tayyeb: With regard to wife beating... In a nutshell, it appeared as part of a program to reform the wife. [According to the Koran], first "admonish them," [then] "sleep in separate beds, and beat them."

Qur'an 4:34 says Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.

Interviewer: I think we must stress that this pertains to a rebellious woman...

Oh, so they don't beat all women, just those that do something the husband does not like.

Ahmad Al-Tayyeb: Of course. It's not that anybody can start beating as he sees fit. [Westerners] who claim this talk about an Islam which is a figment of their imagination. They are villains because they know there's no such thing in Islam, and they want to pin this interpretation on it. Why? Because Islamic culture is the only culture that is spreading, and is viewed with fear by people of other cultures.

Cancer spreads, and we have chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery with which to treat it.

In any case... This method appeared as part of the treatment of a rebellious wife. I am faced with two options - either the family will be destroyed by divorce, or I can use means that may bring my wife, the mother of my children, back to her senses.

Would a woman whose husband beats her prefer divorce or to be beaten senseless?

The first means is admonishment. [...] The second means of treatment is "sleeping in separate beds." Why? Because this targets the honor... A lot could be said about this. The strength of a woman lies in her ability to seduce the man. The man is strong and can do whatever he wants,

Not in Western society

but the woman has a weapon of her own. This weapon can be targeted.

So because you fear a woman might seduce her husband into getting what she wants you want to disarm that ability.

Many women will come back to their senses, when they realize that this is what's involved. [...] By Allah, even if only one woman out of a million

a lot more than that are beaten.

can be reformed by light beatings... It's not really beating, it's more like punching.

Oh that is different. Why should a woman mind being punched? Or shoved or poked? As long as it isn't a beating, and as long as she was rebellious.

Two Michigan State University law students have written a scholarly article on wife beating and wife discipline in Islamic Law, posted on the Cienfuegos blog at http://gimmetruth.wordpress.com/2006/06/04/discipline-as-a-means-to-marital-reconciliation/ and I have posted brief comments on my Therapeutic Family Law blog at http://therapeuticfamilylaw.blogspot.com/